La Liga Confirms Five Positive Coronavirus Tests Across Top Two Divisions

La Liga has confirmed that five unnamed players across Spain's top two divisions have tested positive for Covid-19, as plans remain in place to resume domestic football in the country on 20 June.

The Spanish government was one of the first in Europe to impose the type of lockdown restrictions that have since been put in place right across the continent, but although over 26,000 people have died with the virus - around 10% of global deaths - daily numbers are falling steadily.

'Only' 143 deaths were recorded on Sunday, another slight decrease from Saturday's 179, and the government - having already eased restrictions to allow citizens hour-long walks with members of the same household - have announced plans to further loosen the lockdown from Monday.

With things cautiously on the up, football authorities have been quick to put a plan in action to resume and finish the season. On Friday, Leganes manager Javier Aguirre confirmed a 20 June start date that would see the 2019/20 campaign wrapped up by 26 July.

"We've now got a restart date: La Liga will start again on June 20 and we'll officially finish within five weeks, on July 26," Aguirre said. "[Matches] will be played Saturday, Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the 11 [remaining] fixtures."

The league have confirmed, however, that there have been five new cases among La Liga and Segunda Liga players - and the infected players will require two negative tests before they are allowed to return to training.

That may come as worrying news, but it's important to note the context. Those five new cases come after more than 2,000 tests were undertaken by players and coaching staff, and given that the country is on its way out of an unprecedented pandemic, it was inevitable that some residual cases would come to light.

All five players, as yet unnamed, are believed to be well and asymptomatic.

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